Welcome Traveler!
You’ve arrived at the start of our journey!
We’re a group of student researchers at Pacific University committed to promoting positive socio-emotional development in adolescents through evidence-based game design.
Curious to learn more about our game and how it can advance change like this?
Let's dive right in!
Level 1: An "Anxious Generation"
You’ve likely heard Generation Z synonymized with an “Anxious Generation.” In many ways, people aren’t wrong; adolescents are more depressed, anxious, and stressed than ever recorded before – and those rates of negative affectivity are only increasing (Bethune, 2019)! Gen Z’s mental health challenges are often attributed to technology, but empirical data points to broader societal stressors – including political events, economic instability, and academic pressure – as key sources of distress (Bethune, 2019). At the same time, incoming college cohorts show declines in self-regulation and resilience, often attributed as the “psychological immune system” needed for adaptive coping (Takács et al., 2021).
Adolescence is a period when regulation systems typically shift (1) toward "reappraisal " (positive re-interpretations of an event) and away from "expressive suppression" (trying not to think about something); disruptions in these systems are associated with anxiety and depression (Young, Sandman & Craske, 2019). More importantly, predictors of well-being, such as social support and emotional resilience, can counteract factors like screen time, which are, in part, attributed to the increase in negative affectivity in adolescents (Dwidienawati et al., 2025).
Importantly, technology itself is not the problem; it is a tool. The effect social media and games have on adolescents depends entirely on the context in which it is used and the meanings that are ascribed (Greitemeyer & Mügge, 2014; Bruner, 1991)
Level 2: How Games Work
Wise Interventions demonstrate that targeted shifts in meaning, behavior, or interpretation can disrupt self-defeating cycles and promote recursive, positive change (Walton & Wilson, 2018). Games are positioned to effectively deliver these interventions because they offer structured challenges in an immersive and feedback-rich environment, thereby supporting an individual’s autonomy, competence, and relatedness – the foundations of autonomous motivation (Blumberg et al., 2013; Deci & Ryan, 2008).
Serious games have been shown to enhance knowledge, treatment adherence, therapy engagement, and even social attitudes (Blumberg et al., 2013; Simonovits et al., 2018). Furthermore, research shows that games serve more as a medium to individual change; that is, the determinants of the psychological impact of a game has more to do with its content, context, and formal features (Subrahmanyam & Renukarya, 2015; Greenfield, 1994).
Level 3: Curse of Ironbrook
Play & Objectives
Curse of Ironbrook applies these principles by placing players in a village under recurring crises – those being fires, storms, sickness, and other simulated disasters. As district managers of the village, players must maintain the overall Village Health by responding to these disasters with adaptive, real-world coping processes.
In-game, players repeatedly engage with this cycle of disaster, response, and feedback, as depicted in our model below.
Our Learning Objectives:
By the end of several hours of play...
Players will be better able to
Label and identify emotional experiences in themselves and others
Model healthy versus unhealthy responses to distressing situational events
Players will be better at articulating
Their knowledge on adaptive emotion-regulation strategies (i.e., support seeking, problem solving, mindful acceptance, and cognitive reappraisal)
The importance of collaboration and prosocial communication
Adaptive strategies in-game are more costly, but they stabilize Village Health over time. In contrast, maladaptive strategies offer short-term financial relief but weaken future health and resilience, reflecting the importance of adaptivity (Kozubal, Szuster, & Wielgopolan, 2023; Young et al., 2019).
To break the curse, players must maintain Village Health at its peak (20) for three consecutive rounds. In doing so, players (a) expand their knowledge about coping and ways to adaptively cope, (b) model sustained, adaptive regulation, and (c) learn the importance of collaboration and prosocial communication.
Disaster Cards
Simulate distressing real-world events, like fires, storms, and interpersonal conflict
Coping Cards
Simulate both adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies
King's Request Cards
Encourages emotion-identification, reflection, and prosocial collaboration
Witch's Curse Cards
Add interpersonal conflict that requires resolution
Level 4: Why it Matters
Curse of Ironbrook is designed as a playable Wise Intervention. It utilizes known mechanisms of learning and schematic transference to evoke positive, recursive, self-sustaining change.
Figure 1. Our Wise Intervention Logic Model
In Context: Because 97% of U.S adolescents play (video) games and average approximately 13 hours a week, this medium of gaming provides a familiar, fun, and inviting environment that is an entry point for positive socio-emotional development (Greitemeyer & Mügge, 2014). We can transform suppression into reappraisal, distraction into mindful acceptance, and rumination into problem-solving and support-seeking.
Level 5: Overview
Gen Z’s mental health crisis is driven by systemic stressors and limited opportunities to practice adaptive coping, rather than individual issues.
Wise Interventions provide evidence-based tools that lead to highly efficacious, recursive change (Walton & Wilson, 2018).
Games provide the motivational components needed to make those changes stick with the player (Granic, Lobel, & Engels 2014; Subrahmanyam & Renukarya, 2015).
The Curse of Ironbrook turns coping into something players can practice, choose, and understand inside a dynamic, immersive, and feedback-rich system. This provides an opportunity for these skills and knowledge to transfer to real-world contexts.
Generative AI was used to facilitate image generation and establish the game's aesthetic. All ideas and text are the author's own, original work.
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About the Authors
Hi there! I'm Jackson, a third-year Psychology student who's also minoring in Philosophy! This project has taught me just how powerful game-based learning is, while also reminding me of the complexity and nuance involved in developing a meaningful game. Working toward improving emotional resilience in youth is a challenge - especially when having to develop something authentic and autonomously motivating. Even so, this process has been immensely rewarding, and I hope this project continues to flourish into the future.
Hey! My name is Micah Antick-Oslund, I am a Senior year Psychology major, and I am hoping to go to nursing school after graduation (Spring 2026). While learning, researching, and designing this game, I found enjoyment in discovering how to motivate our players and keep them engaged while gauging the impact of the collaborative and cooperative aspects of our gameplay. Having the opportunity to implement our ideas alongside a polished understanding of game mechanics to further influence beliefs, behavior, and social attitudes in the right direction is rewarding.